Mud – DVD review

Jeff Nichols, 2013

E1

The worlds of teens and adults collide in this enjoyably meandering drama as two Mississippi mudlarks happen upon Matthew McConaughey, a drifter who is washed ashore and all washed up. The boys – romantic dreamer Ellis and down-to-earth Neckbone – are captivated by this windswept stranger but it soon emerges that he has man-sized problems – not least a boat lost up a tree and a heart lost to Reese Witherspoon. With shades of Stand by Me and Huck Finn, writer/director Jeff Nichols gives the story room to breathe; his film feels just as spacious and unhurried as the world it depicts.